In 2018, Dana invested a total of 13.5 million euros to expand production of cylinder-head gaskets and transmission valve body separator plates. This investment created 60 new jobs. With the new, fully automated coating and assembly lines, as well as the new press line, Dana is creating additional capacities for cylinder-head gaskets for use in internal combustion engines.
“We are providing additional resources and production capacities to optimally serve our customers' increased market share and continuous sales growth in the engine production segment,” said Stefan Genelin, head of automotive products for Dana Power Technologies, Neu-Ulm site. “Thanks to the new production lines, we can produce a cylinder-head gasket every 1.86 seconds”.
The new coating line, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, punches the gasket blanks directly from the coil. They are then washed, pre-treated, primed, coated, dried, and vulcanized – all fully automatic – with the highest quality. From these semi-finished products, the sealing layers for the proven Victor Reinz
® multi-layer steel cylinder-head gaskets are punched out, embossed, and stacked. Finally, the gaskets are riveted on the new assembly line. The latest camera technology is used for automatic quality control.
The new production lines supplement current operations and expand production capacity by increasing the level of automation, including improved product quality and competitiveness.
In addition to investments in the production of cylinder-head gaskets, a new washing area and cleanroom were built for the manufacture of transmission plates for automatic and dual-clutch transmissions.
The new operations can also be used in the future to manufacture components for battery-powered or fuel cell-powered electric vehicles.